Monday 28 November 2016

Senior Nigerian Official Sees No Disruption Of Ties With US In Trump Presidency

The new Permanent Secretary to the Nigerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sola Enikanolaiye, says that the Donald Trump presidency will not disrupt the long-standing relations between Nigeria and the United States.

Enikanolaiye told the News Agency of Nigeria(NAN) here Sunday that there was no need for Nigerians to be agitated over Trump's election as president of the US.

He also expressed optimism that the long-standing bilateral relationship would be strengthened in the years ahead.

"We do not think that Donald Trump's presidency would lead to a disruption in the relations between Nigeria and the United States. The United States and Nigeria have had excellent relations since the attainment of Nigeria's independence," he said.

"And under every government in the US, whether Republican or Democrat, we have always had cordial relations. So we do not think that the already existing relations between Nigeria and the US would necessarily be altered under the President-elect Donald Trump."

The permanent secretary, however, added that Nigeria would not be naive as to be caught unawares by any future eventuality. On Monday, the Foreign Ministry is holding a retreat for its senior officer in Abuja to deliberate on some of Trump's rhetorics during his campaign.

"Given the President-elect's rhetorics during his campaign and election, we would not be naive not to prepare for these eventualities. The retreat would give major foreign policy stakeholders the opportunity to deliberate on what Trump has said and advise government on how best to respond to them."

Enikanolaiye recalled that Nigeria had excellent relations with the administration of outgoing President Barack Obama in different areas, including economic ties, deepening of Nigeria's democracy and other areas.

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